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OK, here’s what’s going on right now in the world of sports:
What you need to know about the Super Bowl
The NFL’s championship game kicks off Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Whether you’re a big football fan or you just want a little backstory to feel more in the loop at your Super Bowl party, here’s some key info to get you ready for the game:
The New England Patriots are favoured to beat the Los Angeles Rams. The consensus betting line is 2.5 points. That means if you wager on the Patriots, they have to win by three for you to collect. Gamblers have come in pretty heavy on them. L.A. was actually a slight favourite when betting opened, but bookies had to move the line after taking a lot of New England money. If you want to know more about how to bet on the Super Bowl, check out our gambling guide from yesterday’s newsletter.
New England is going for its sixth Super Bowl title. That would tie it with Pittsburgh for the most ever by a franchise. All five of the Patriots’ titles have come since 2002 and been anchored by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Both are among the best ever at their jobs. This is the third Super Bowl appearance in a row for the Patriots. They lost a thriller to Philadelphia last year. In 2017 they were down 28-3 midway through the third quarter before rallying to beat Atlanta in overtime.
Brady has won four Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Awards — the most ever. And he’s still going strong at age 41. That’s really old for a football player, but his work ethic is legendary. He’s especially fanatical about his flexibility, hydration, sleep and diet. He’ll even avoid some seemingly harmless foods like tomatoes, mushrooms and olive oil. He famously doesn’t eat strawberries either, but he says that’s just because he doesn’t like them. Yeah, he’s… different.
Some people say the Rams don’t deserve to be here. New Orleans fans, mostly. To be fair, the Saints would almost certainly have beaten L.A. for a spot in the Super Bowl if an obvious pass-interference penalty had been called late in their playoff game. But the Rams went on to win in overtime to earn their first Super Bowl appearance since 2002 — back when they played in St. Louis. The Patriots upset them as 14-point underdogs in Brady’s first year as a starter.
L.A.’s biggest star is its head coach. Sean McVay just turned 33 — that’s younger than some of his players. But he won their respect by turning a stagnant offence into one of the NFL’s best with his creativity. Young quarterback Jared Goff looked like a bust until McVay helped turn him into a decent player (though he’s still no Brady). Todd Gurley has been the best running back in football for most of the last two years, but he hasn’t looked like himself since hurting his knee late in the regular season. L.A. also has the NFL’s best defensive player. Aaron Donald’s main job is to overpower the offensive line and get to Brady.
The halftime headliner is the band Maroon 5. They’ll be joined by rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi. Rihanna reportedly turned down an offer to star in the show. She has criticized the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick and other players who protested racial inequality during the U.S. national anthem.
Yes, you’ll be able to watch the American commercials — for now. That’s been the case since 2016, when the CRTC told the Super Bowl’s Canadian broadcast rights holder that it could no longer force its own signal overtop the American one during commercial breaks. Just make sure your TV is on CBS (the U.S. broadcaster this year) if you want to see all the good ads. And enjoy them while they last. The pending U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal has a clause saying Canadian networks won’t have to show them anymore. Why would something like that be in the deal? Reportedly, the answer involves greedy NFL owners and Donald Trump.
The quarterback whisperer – literally, here. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Quickly…
Change of plans: Lindsey Vonn is retiring next week. She originally wanted to finish out this season, make one last stop at her favourite venue, Lake Louise, next season and hopefully break the all-time record for World Cup wins along the way. But the greatest women’s ski racer of all time has had it with her bad knees. So she’ll compete in two events at the world championships in Sweden next week, then call it a career. Her final race will be the women’s downhill next Sunday. “My body is screaming at me to STOP and it’s time for me to listen,” Vonn wrote on Instagram.
The truck driver who caused the Humboldt Broncos bus crash will be sentenced on March 22. The sentencing hearing for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu finished yesterday in Saskatchewan. The Crown asked for a 10-year sentence followed by a 10-year driving ban. Sidhu has accepted responsibility for last year’s crash and pleaded guilty to 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing injury. “It happened because of my lack of experience. I can’t imagine what you are going through, what you’ve been through,” he told the victims’ families in court. “I have taken the most valuable things of your life.” An immigration expert told CBC Saskatoon that Sidhu will likely be deported after serving his sentence. He’s a permanent resident of Canada who was born in India.
Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin might be getting a medal upgrade. He took home a bronze from the 2012 London Olympics after tying for third place with two other jumpers. But the winner, Russia’s Ivan Ukhov, was disqualified today for his involvement in state-backed doping. If Ukhov is stripped of the gold, Drouin could move up to silver. The Canadian won gold at the 2016 Olympics.
What to watch this weekend
Saturday
Freestyle ski and snowboard world championships — ski cross. It’s Super Bowl weekend, so can we call this the football of winter Olympic sports? Both have great athletes going really fast and putting themselves in a lot of danger. Canada has both of the reigning Olympic champions in Brady Leman and Kelsey Serwa. You can watch them compete live at 3 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca. At 4 p.m. ET, Road to the Olympic Games on CBC-TV will show the best action from both the ski cross and snowboard cross events. For a full rundown of the top Canadians competing at the worlds, check out this preview by CBC Sports’ Doug Harrison.
NHL — Pittsburgh at Toronto (7 p.m. ET). The Leafs return from a long layoff (the all-star break followed by their bye week) on Friday night in Detroit. So this should be Jake Muzzin’s second game as a Leaf. The defenceman was acquired this week in a trade with Los Angeles. Pittsburgh made a trade of its own Friday, getting forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann from Florida for forward Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan and three draft picks.
NHL — Vancouver at Colorado (10 p.m. ET). The Avalanche have two of the NHL’s top six scorers in Mikko Rantanen (74 points) and Nathan MacKinnon (71). The Canucks have the highest-scoring rookie in Elias Pettersson, who has 45 points in only 40 games.
Red Bull Crashed Ice. Basically ski cross on hockey skates. So if you like those sports, you’ll probably like this. You can watch the live stream from Finland at 7 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca. Or catch the event on CBC-TV right after the Hockey Night in Canada After Hours show that follows the Vancouver-Colorado game.
Sunday
Super Bowl LIII (6:30 p.m. ET). We already covered the big angles in the Patriots-Rams matchup up above, so I’ll just give my pick. L.A. is a very good team and certainly capable of winning this game. But New England has the much better quarterback, the better strategic coach and a lot more Super Bowl experience. The defences are pretty much a wash. A lot of stats suggest these teams are evenly matched, but the Patriots usually overperform when it matters most. That makes it really hard to bet against them. I’ll lay the 2.5 points and take New England.
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